Straight to the Heart
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Doumeki has always been straightforward.


**Title:** Straight to the Heart  
**Universe:** XXXHolic  
**Theme/Topic:** N/A  
**Rating:** PG  
**Character/Pairing/s:** DoumekixWatanuki  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** None I can imagine. Though I warn for an extremely OOC Watanuki and the usual stupidity.  
**Word Count: **1,495  
**Summary:** Doumeki has always been straight forward.  
**Dedication:** for sophiap- thanks for all your help yesterday, and for listening to me whine like a big whiny baby. XD  
**A/N:** Just a morning quickie while I drink hot soup and try to warm up in this cold. Then I'll do my homework. Yes. Totally. Homework. And the bookstore. Because I have at 25 off coupon. XD  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, though I wish constantly.  
**Distribution:** Just lemme know.

Doumeki had never been one to beat around the bush very much. When his mind was made up he was honest, direct, straightforward.

Granted, every now and again it took a good (long) amount of time for his mind to make itself up in the first place, but that was simply due to the fact that in addition to the aforementioned characteristics of honesty, directness, and straightforwardness, he was also thoughtful and deliberate and didn't make his decisions in haste.

He always got to where he was going eventually anyway, so he didn't really feel that there was anything to complain about time wise, whether it took him five minutes or five years to make a choice.

He was, as his grandfather had declared, a boy who moved at his own pace.

And today, today he felt as though his mind was on the verge of something. Maybe. It seemed to him like an inevitable forward motion towards a decision that he'd been teetering on the edge of for some time now perhaps, and as he sat eating lunch—as he'd done at this time every day since school began—he thought that there was something in the air that felt different despite all the things that were exactly the same today as they'd been yesterday. He sensed that a change was upon them, though he couldn't be sure what, exactly it was. Yet.

So he did what he always did. He sat back, ate his lunch, and calmly waited for it—whatever it was.

Beside him, Watanuki made a nuisance of himself—the same song and dance between the two of them that had been going on for however long now, maybe forever. It felt like that sometimes. "Don't just start eating!" the slimmer boy demanded imperiously, and fumed in Doumeki's general vicinity when Doumeki started eating anyway. "Don't you have any manners?! I have to bring you lunch like, _all the time_ and I _keep having to yell at you for the same stupid things_. You're so good at school and you can't even pick up these things anyone with an iota of common sense would have figured out on their own already? Unbelievable! Amazing! Staggering! It's completely illogical!! And yet here we are! Again!"

Doumeki blinked and looked at Watanuki. "Mm," he grunted, and wondered if the loud-mouthed idiot always got that flushed when he was yelling at him like that.

Watanuki's eyes narrowed and his glasses flashed just a little bit, catching some of the afternoon light and the reflection of the trees overhead. "And that's all you have to say for yourself?" he demanded, indignant. "When you're saying things like that and sitting there with that stupid expression on your face I can't for an instant figure out why you're so popular! At least apologize properly for being rude!"

Doumeki swallowed a mouthful of rice, and he noticed that he kind of thought it was amusing how Watanuki would sniff at the end of his overblown tirades, all snooty like even when he was the one bringing Doumeki homemade lunches every day.

It was kind of cute, maybe.

He blinked.

And just like that, the universe suddenly felt like a completely different place.

Something changed.

But then again, his mind was in the habit of making itself at the oddest moments like that, whether it took five minutes or five months or five years to get to whatever decision it had been on the brink of.

And when his mind was made up, Doumeki was the kind of person who didn't like to beat around the bush. He was always honest, direct, straightforward.

"Oi, Watanuki Kimihiro," he started, and suddenly really noticed the little lines between the other boy's brows when he frowned like that, the way his cheeks would puff out in resentful affront that wasn't nearly as potent as he made it out to be. You could tell when you looked into his eyes.

"What do you want? Don't just say my name like that."

Doumeki wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before speaking again. "I'm pretty sure I like you."

Watanuki blinked—he'd been waiting for that apology really. Not that he'd expected to actually _get_ it, but it would have been rude on _his_ part to demand one and not give Doumeki the time to utter it immediately after. Hypocritical or something. So while he hadn't _really _been expecting an apology, it said a lot when he could admit to himself that he'd been expecting _that _even_ less_. "What?"

Doumeki took another mouthful of rice, chewed slowly, swallowed. Drank some tea. Took a breath. No rush—he'd get to where he was supposed to be eventually, like he always did. "I said, I'm pretty sure I like you," he repeated flatly, with no pretense whatsoever. "So let's go out one day."

Watanuki stared. "W-what?"

"You heard me, so stop saying that," Doumeki told him, and kept eating like he'd just mentioned something about how nice the weather was today instead of outright confessing his feelings to another _boy_. One who'd been _yelling_ at him quite adamantly just now on top of that.

Doumeki supposed he was just fairly open to things like change. And he'd always been pretty straightforward.

A beat.

And then, Watanuki proved once more, that while some things could change in the instant it took to make a decision, some things also _wouldn't _change, no matter what.

Kimihiro flailed.

"What the hell was that?! What kind of stupid confession was that? Do you even know what timing is? What kind of _moron_ says that kind of thing when we're in the middle of an argument and _really_, where the hell did that come out of all of a sudden? Did you just wake up this morning and decide that or something?!"

"Just now," Doumeki told him, honestly.

"EVEN WORSE! That's even worse and the _dumbest_ possible thing you could say to _anyone_ you were trying to confess to! Don't you know _anything_? That's DEFINITELY too direct! HAVE SOME SHAME! PUT SOME EMOTION INTO YOUR VOICE!"

Doumeki ate his rice and watched as Watanuki continued to make a nuisance of himself. Except now, when he noticed that the angry flush on the other's boy's cheeks was still there, he also noticed it was a little less angry this time too, that maybe it had a little bit of something else to it as well.

Change. It eventually happened no matter what, Doumeki supposed. Whether it took five seconds or five minutes or five months or five years, whether it was as big as love or as small as noticing the slightly different way someone yelled at you now.

And as big a thing as it was he may just have stumbled upon, it still wasn't the kind of thing that scared him, really. He'd always been straightforward like that.

His grandfather used to tell everyone that he was the kind of boy who moved at his own pace.

And he always got to where he was supposed to go anyway either way, so he supposed couldn't really complain about anything in the end.

Instead, he continued to listen with half an ear as Watanuki ranted to him about the proper courtship rituals of civilized society and how anyone with an _iota_ of common sense would know them already, blah, blah, blah, lunch today was really good.

When the other boy was finished—about half an hour later—Doumeki finished his meal, uttered, "Gochiso," and began packing up. As he did, he looked at Watanuki, and kind of liked that the loud-mouth's cheeks were still flushed the way that they were. It was one of those things he could notice now, since things had changed.

"Oi, Watanuki Kimihiro," he began again, calmly.

Watanuki blinked, turned just a shade redder. "W-what? Don't just say my name like that, I said!"

Doumeki smiled—just a bit. "Tomorrow make yakisoba and salmon onigiri."

A beat.

Watanuki twitched, and in this new and interestingly altered universe, Doumeki thought to himself that it was really very cute.

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me."

"THAT WAS _DEFINITELY_ THE MOST INAPPROPRIATE THING YOU COULD HAVE POSSIBLY SAID AT THIS MOMENT EVER." Pause. "AND TOMORROW'S SATURDAY."

"We can eat at the park then. Like a date. I'll bring drinks."

"DON'T JUST DECIDE THESE THINGS ON YOUR OWN. AND ISN'T THAT TOO CHEAP ON YOUR PART?"

"Drinks and cake?"

"…Castilla and coffee?"

"Mousse cake."

"FINE."

"Fine."

A beat.

"WAIT I DIDN'T MEAN TO AGREE TO THAT!" Watanuki exclaimed. "THAT WAS A DIRTY TRICK!"

Doumeki was never the kind of person who was afraid of change. Probably because his mind had a way of making itself up at the most unlikely times and all he could do was adjust appropriately, really. He was used to it now, he supposed.

But even still.

It was good to see that some things never changed _too_ much.

**END**


End file.
